Of Berries, Gas Tanks, and Roach Eggs

We got off to a slightly later start this morning--10 AM-- after stopping at Target and getting gas before starting our trip. The drive, probably our longest one, was pretty easy. First we went over the gorgeous bridge that connects Georgia to South Carolina. Then the landscape began to get very verdant and beautiful. We have noticed so far that as we go further north (Florida, Georgia, South Carolina, and North Carolina) the trees get taller and taller and the drive keeps getting prettier and prettier. Midway through the drive Cesar and I began to snack on some of the blackberries we picked expecting them to be pretty sour as most of them were yesterday when we ate them. We realized, however, that many of them were very sweet and delicious. It turns out the apothegm, "The blacker the berries the sweeter the juice" is correct after all.

When we had about two hours left we got off the main highway and ventured into some pretty small towns. They made us think of how St. Croix will end up looking if we don't figure things out and make sure we have a healthy economy. There were lots of pretty but dilapidated houses, boarded up stores, drug rehab centers, sad people walking around. It was pretty depressing. Luckily, there was a church every 1/8 of a mile and a sign that saves "Jesus Saves" on every street corner. Hopefully this will help the people of rural South and North Carolina feel better about their prospects in the afterlife than they do about their current life in Babylon.

We also saw tons of signs advertising a place called South of the Border, which my mom warned me about. The omnipresent signs almost sucked me in, but luckily (or unfortunately?) we left I-95 ten miles or so before we got there. (See pics! There were so many of them I actually got to practice taking an action shot from the car before I was able to get a decent shot.)

The kids started melting when we were about 30 minutes to an hour away, right about the time we noticed that we needed more gas. This made us consider the following question: Is the size of a gas tank directly correlated to the length of car trip a child can survive? Luckily this should be our longest drive. We arrived at our hotel, checked in, dealt with a Che meltdown, and then headed to downtown Chapel Hill and ate quickly at The Carolina Brewery. Che had a couple of more meltdowns so we headed home. When we got back to the hotel Cesar noticed something on top of the armoire and said "That looks like a roach egg." I got completely grossed out and went to inspect myself. It turns out it was a roach, but not an egg, and not an insect. Being the Puritan that I am, I am not sure if I should be more or less freaked out given that it was not an actual roach egg.

Che is watching Nemo, Cesar is working, Sabine is exploring, and I am typing. Tomorrow hopefully we'll see more Chapel Hill and go to a farmer's market.